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Warrior Club Part 2

Greetings, all. Bought some new tuners and a new hipshot bridge to swap out my chrome hardware. tuners went in fine but the bridge isnt coming off as readily as I am used to bridges doing, after unscrewing it. Wanted to check if anyone knew whether the Warrior bridges are glued before I got too aggressive and tore out some of the spalted top or anything.
 
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My Warrior. A mid-90’s DM4.
 

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Well, I just pulled the trigger on a Warrior Dran Michael IV with a chocolate quilt top. It's a MM/J configuration and a neck-through.

Time to start thinning the herd. Oof.
I was literally waiting on payday to pick that one up. Great catch. I ended up getting a deal on the one at Sam Ash with truss rod issues. Mainly a 4 string player, but I had an OG 5 string Warrior back in the 90s, and it never hurts to have at least 1 5 string. Hopefully no issues with repairing it.

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How bad is the truss rod? I seriously considered it before snagging this one.

Oh she gone. Listed as "seized", and I know they had some issues around that time. So I was hoping they would fix it, since I'm only about an hour away from the factory. But no, seized, stripped, and the nut seems very soft, I couldn't even get it to loosen up. So off the fretboard goes. She will be back better than new though. I usually go through used stuff when I get it anyways, just not quite this thorough lol.
 
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Any of you Warrior guys know the secret to transposing JD's serial numbers?
My Warrior is supposed to be an early 2000 NAMM show bass but I'm not sure about the year. The serial number is NAMM 028. Could that be transposed to NAMM 2002 bass #8?
Also, the bass has the barrel output jack and not the locking output jack. Maybe that would help ID the year too.

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We’ll it took a little over 20 years but I finally have a Warrior new build in progress. I first meet JD back in 1999 while in the Chattanooga area on a family vacation at Thanksgiving. I went into a music store in Rosseville and they had an awesome display of Warrior basses in the middle of the store. I was playing a couple of them when JD walked up, introduced himself and offered to give me a tour of the new shop behind the music store. I decided right then that I wanted to start a Warrior new build but unfortunately things just never worked out. In the years to follow I did purchase a few used Warrior basses but never had a custom build. There was one Warrior that I've always regretted trading but unfortunately, I owned it in a time period where nothing stayed very long (GAS). Well fast forward to a couple months ago, while on the way back from a trip to Tennessee, I stopped by the Warrior shop and was able to once again see JD and meet one of his sons, Dran Michael (great young man). I played a couple Warrior basses at the shop and once again the Warrior Gas was churning! The quality of the basses that I played was extremely good. I stayed in touch with JD and a couple of weeks ago was able to take over a build in progress that was exactly what I wanted. JD said it was about 3-4 weeks from completion (so hopefully I’ll have it in a couple more weeks.
The bass is Dran Michael 5 and has an alder body, exhibition quilt top, maple neck, ebony fingerboard, Bartolini 3-band preamp and the Bartolini Big Boy humbucker with the X5 bridge pickups.
 
Check this one out. I got it back in July. its a Dran Michael bolt on 5

Wenge fretboard
34" scale
Maple neck
Flame maple top
"matching" headstock
Alder body
Bartolini pre

Custom specs
Gye Nyame inlay (wenge)
Truss rod cover w/ Africa inlay
Input jack on top
Lindy Fralin Jazz pups
Satin body finish
Strung E to C

i had it commissioned about a year and a half ago. it took forever. i wasnt too happy about that, but it SOUNDS GREAT!!! Over all, I'm about 8.5 on a 10 scale of satisfaction. I wanted an ebony board and inlay, but he couldnt do an ebony inlay. i orignally wanted an Aguilar OBP3 preamp, but i opted for the customary Bartolini pre. Still dont know how i feel about that decision. the Bart pre sounds great so.... Also The satin finish i ordered was only applied to the body, so the headstock looks a little lighter than the body. the nut looks a little rushed. I might have a brass nut installed later.

But like I said earlier, it sounds great. I encourage any of you who are ordering a new Warrior, Fralins pair well with the Bartolini pre and IMO looks better than the standard Barts. And lastly, BE PERSISTENT. Know what you want and stick with it. Its your money.


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the inlay is an ancient African symbol that means "except for God" or the supremacy of God. As far as pricing, I don't know how JD figures it up. Its not like Fodera or Fbass where there is a bass price and you work from there. JD will shoot you a figure and you can pretty much negotiate from there. The block inlays were a freebee b/c the bass was way over schedule. i put $7k into it. I'm happy with the sound and the feel. The neck and fretboard are buttery smooth, but the attention to detail in other places is lacking IMO.

I would also go with a satin finish over the entire bass. It feels better than the oil finish. I added the ramp later from dknob.com. i took a sharpie marker to the ramp and put an acrylic coat over it. Not the best, but it got the job done.

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Extremely late reply (you may not even have this bass anymore) but I love the meaning behind the body inlay work! Very unique and a great conversation piece!:thumbsup:
 
Just received my new build from Warrior. Opening the gig bag left me speechless! Beautiful bass! Workmanship is as good as any boutique bass that I've ever received (and I've totally lost count of how many). Everything from the custom wooden knobs to the engraved control cover is just a work of art.
And of course, the critical part, how does it sound and play? Phenomenal! I just finished setting it up to my specs and it took action down to 3/64" at the G string (24th fret) to 3/32" at the B (24th fret). Crazy low action! Super phat tones (love that burpy X5 bridge pickup combined with the Big Boy humbucker in the neck position; sweet spot).
I totally love the new Warrior Big Bottom Bartolini preamp too. The "Rumble" feature almost sounds like an octave pedal (or a bass synth). Nice to have the active/passive mode too.
JD was a total pleasure to deal with too. First custom build that I've ever done that was literally shipped on the day he estimated!
IMO, adding his two sons, Dran and Gabe to the business has greatly improved the overall quality and professional manner with which they do business.
Highly recommend these guys!

I'll post some pics.

Need to get back to playing it.:bassist:
 

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Just received my new build from Warrior. Opening the gig bag left me speechless! Beautiful bass! Workmanship is as good as any boutique bass that I've ever received (and I've totally lost count of how many). Everything from the custom wooden knobs to the engraved control cover is just a work of art.
And of course, the critical part, how does it sound and play? Phenomenal! I just finished setting it up to my specs and it took action down to 3/64" at the G string (24th fret) to 3/32" at the B (24th fret). Crazy low action! Super phat tones (love that burpy X5 bridge pickup combined with the Big Boy humbucker in the neck position; sweet spot).
I totally love the new Warrior Big Bottom Bartolini preamp too. The "Rumble" feature almost sounds like an octave pedal (or a bass synth). Nice to have the active/passive mode too.
JD was a total pleasure to deal with too. First custom build that I've ever done that was literally shipped on the day he estimated!
IMO, adding his two sons, Dran and Gabe to the business has greatly improved the overall quality and professional manner with which they do business.
Highly recommend these guys!

I'll post some pics.

Need to get back to playing it.:bassist:

Absolutely beautiful Joe! I have a few being made myself now. JD has really stepped up his game lately and I am throughly impressed with his craftsmanship now! From fit to finished, absolutely top-notch! I'll be hopefully posting mine soon!
 
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Wow! This thread is really quiet!

We need to wake this thread up a bit @Nine-and-three-Quarters (Deon).
How about sharing some pics of those two new Warrior basses you just picked up from the Warrior shop? And maybe some in progress pics of your Isabella 6.

I’ve had mine for 4 weeks now and totally loving it! All my other basses pretty much stay in their cases.
I did tweak Warriors new Big Bottom preamp a bit. It has 3 trim pots inside the control cavity.

One for the “Rumble” feature
One got the preamp output
One for the “sizzle” feature

I set the Sizzle and output trim pots just under 1/2 and the Rumble trim pot around 1/4. Love the sound. Very similar to a Demeter preamp but with much more available boost and cut capability.
Extremely quiet too.
 
Hey all, if there’s anyone here who has a 5 string Dran Michael with a nut that’s 1.75“ or narrower that would be interested in either selling or doing a sell + trade deal? Please let me know. Thanks!

Basses for potential trade I have listed here on TB:

* 2006 Dingwall ABII 5- near mint 9.5/10 ($4800)

* 2006 Pedulla Rapture 5- has dings and scratches but plays and sounds great and includes truss rod tool. Truss rod is 100% 7.7/10 ($1900)

Not listed but available for trade:

*Moog Subsequent 37 basically like new ($1700)
 

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